The latest numbers in PC shipments for Q3 2009 are in from
research firm IDC. According to the numbers, the PC industry is
finally turning around with growth in the face of the poor economy.
Intel
posted growth this week for Q3 leading to speculation that the
computer industry would as well and IDC's numbers indicate that is
true.

IDC reports that the shipment
of PCs rose by 2.3% globally for Q3 2009 compared to Q3 2008.
That may sound like a slight growth, but compared to Q1 2009 where
the market shrank by 6.8% compared to 2008 and Q2 where the market
shrank 2.4%, the slight growth is something to talk about. IDC
reports that all regions met their growth expectations except for
Japan.

"Despite the ongoing mix of gloom and caution on
the economic front, the PC market continues to rebound quickly,"
said Loren Loverde, program director for IDC's Tracker Program. "The
competitive landscape, the transition to portables, new and low-power
designs, growth in retail and consumer segments, and the impact of
falling prices are all reflected in the gains by HP and Acer, as well
as overall market growth."

"The continued strength
of both the U.S. and worldwide PC business in the face of difficult
economic environments underscores the value that both consumer and
corporate buyers place on PCs," adds Bob O'Donnell, vice
president, Clients and Displays at IDC. "With the forthcoming
launch of Windows 7 and expected commercial refresh beginning in
2010, the prospects for future PC market growth are very solid."

HP
maintained its spot as the top shipper of PCs in the world with 20.2%
of the market. Acer passed Dell to grab the second spot on the list
with 14% of the global PC market with Dell slipping to third place
with 12.7% of the global market. Rounding out the top five global
computer shippers is Lenovo with 8.9% of the market and Toshiba with
5.2% of the market.

Things look a bit different for the U.S.
market for the quarter. HP is the top in shipments within the U.S.
with 25.5% of the market. Dell is a very close second place with 25%
of the U.S. market. Third place goes to Acer with 11.1%, fourth place
is Apple with 9.4%, and fifth place goes to Toshiba with 8.1% of the
U.S. market.

Comments

Threshold

Username

Password

remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

It means there will be a migration over to closed-platform devices by web content providers (media, entertainers, retailers, developers, etc.) just as PC game developers migrated over to the consoles. Web content on closed platforms will make at least 3-4x as much money as ad-supported content does on the PC.

What about Steam? You don't KNOW the sales of PC games on Steam, hence you don't KNOW for sure that PC gamer developers indeed moved over to consoles. Hence your words are no more than thoughts and opinion. Fortunately, not hard facts yet.

When we know Steam revenue/unit shipments, THEN we can decide on that. Unfortunately, Valve is not very open about it.

All I can say is that my Steam library is about 30 titles now and quickly growing, I buy games on sale usually and save about $30-$40 per game compared to consoles.

Because of these facts above I'm inclined to call your quoted phrase a pure BS for now.

We'll get back to this discussion if Valve publishes Steam sales/revenue numbers.

quote: "Web content providers will eventually be able to stop distributing content on the PC, in favor of the significantly more profitable web devices."What does that actually 'mean'?

I think he's talking about iPhones and similar devices. Web content providers will not stop distributing content to the PC. There are far more desktop PC's and laptops than iPhones, Blackberries and other smart phones.

BTW, a full-powered 16", 500 GB, 6 GB laptop with a 12-cell, 8 hour battery only costs $800. A 10" netbook costs $300. I'd rather get the laptop. The only area a netbook has the advantage is in traveling, trying to get through the airport and carrying it around. Even then, a 16" laptop can still be carried onboard an aircraft with minimal inconvenience.